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By the early nineteenth century, while the form of legal transactions was cumbersome, the substance of the law of property had been settled by conveyancers and judges. As far as land was concerned, all that remained for the courts to solve were certain problems of urban servitudes and business mortgage financing. Parliament, on the other hand, having done very little in the law of private property since the Restoration, became extremely active. ‘Free trade in land’ was the battle-cry of those whose aim was to strike off the fetters binding land to its owner by increasing the powers, and...

By the early nineteenth century, while the form of legal transactions was cumbersome, the substance of the law of property had been settled by conveyancers and judges. As far as land was concerned, all that remained for the courts to solve were certain problems of urban servitudes and business mortgage financing. Parliament, on the other hand, having done very little in the law of private property since the Restoration, became extremely active. ‘Free trade in land’ was the battle-cry of those whose aim was to strike off the fetters binding land to its owner by increasing the powers, and lowering the cost, of alienation. This chapter however, considers matters from the point of view of the New River and gives only an impression of the whole story. A starting point is selected, and the most appropriate seems to be the year of the repeal of the Bubble Act.